I have loved using Skype in class. It engages students like few other things can. Just don't forget to give students expectations :).
In my 7th Grade Geography, we have twice skyped with people in different countries that we were studying (Mexico and Canada.) My goal for both was to allow students to put a face to the places that we are studying. Similarly, I hypothesized (and was right) that students would be engaged if they heard information from someone who actually lived in a place.
In my 7th Grade Geography, we have twice skyped with people in different countries that we were studying (Mexico and Canada.) My goal for both was to allow students to put a face to the places that we are studying. Similarly, I hypothesized (and was right) that students would be engaged if they heard information from someone who actually lived in a place.
My
first experience was asking a person from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories,
how living in Yellowknife affected him. (It was really nice that he had also
lived for a long time in Hamilton, Ontario, which, in climate, and in some ways
culturally is similar to West Michigan. Our guest was interesting and spoke in
terms that my 7th grade students could make sense of. Several
students asked questions. I assigned the students to write a question for him
as homework, and to write down three things they found interesting, both of
which worked fairly well, although I edited them for the next time.
The
next time we Skyped with a school teacher in Mexico DF, who herself was an
immigrant to DF from the country (we are studying spatial inequality and
urbanization). I changed the tasks for the students; asking them to do a KWL.
What do they know, what do they want to learn, and what did they learn. I gave
specific areas for the KWL: rural decline, population density, and one that the
students chose. Having more guidance helped the students to see that the
activity tied directly to our learning targets, and is something I will do in
the future. Our guest was also very engaging, explaining concepts well to
students from a very different culture. It was more of a challenge for me as
she didn’t speak English, so I had to interpret - tiring but very worthwhile. Since the students filled out a KWL, it gave a great
chance for them to discuss in groups what they already knew, and then the
groups decided on the questions to ask her.
Overall this second time went much better than the first, mostly because the student were held more accountable for their input to the process.
I plan to use Skype chats in the future, perhaps including some of the ideas I found on Skype's website.
Overall this second time went much better than the first, mostly because the student were held more accountable for their input to the process.
I plan to use Skype chats in the future, perhaps including some of the ideas I found on Skype's website.
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